Charles Barkley explains why he watches ESPN, takes shot at Skip Bayless
Charles Barkley has one of the loudest voices in sports media, especially in the basketball space. So, in his free time, what kind of content does he himself consume from other outlets?
In an interview with Dan Patrick, Barkley said he chooses to watch ESPN, specifically when he’s working out. For one, he said The Worldwide Leader is the only network that makes his workouts on the treadmill go by faster. For two, though, he said he’d much rather watch that than listen to anything that Skip Bayless has to say on Fox Sports 1.
“Well, I’m on the treadmill (and) I’ve got to watch something. Because you know I can’t watch no punk a** Skip Bayless,” Barkley said. “I’ve gotta watch ESPN. It’s the only thing that makes your workouts go faster.”
Barkley isn’t the first personality in sports to have a problem with Bayless. His criticism of Skip goes deep and goes way back, likely to when even Bayless was on ESPN himself. He probably won’t be the last to dislike him either considering how often he seems to rub people the wrong way.
Even so, it sounds like it’s all to ESPN’s gain as The Chuckster chooses to tune into them while he’s getting his steps in.
Barkley slams LeBron James for retirement talk after loss to Denver in the WCF
Charles Barkley was not a fan of LeBron James discussing a potential retirement after the Los Angeles Lakers were swept by the Denver Nuggets.
After the Western Conference Finals, James contemplated his future and said he had a lot to think about. Although it’s widely expected he’ll return to Los Angeles for the 2023-24 season.
However, Barkley joined The Dan Patrick Show and put James on blast for taking the attention away from Denver’s achievement.
“He knows them fools on ESPN are gonna talk about it,” Barkley said Friday. “They still talking about it. I actually turned my television off the next day because the first two blocks were all about LeBron instead of what the Denver Nuggets have accomplished.”
“I think he did it intentionally. There’s no way he’s retiring. LeBron’s such a good dude and he’s got his stuff together. I was disappointed he took the shine away from the Nuggets.”
Whether James did it intentionally is a different conversation, but Barkley clearly isn’t a fan of all of the ‘LeBron James’ talk on ESPN and other outlets. To be fair, James is the needle mover, but it’s understandable to see why Barkley was irked over it.